Mass-video request highlights tension between open records laws and lots of data.

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Police in Seattle are just weeks away from implementing pilot program in which 12 officers will test different types of body cameras. It's a first step in a plan to put body cameras on the department's more than 1,000 officers by the year 2016.

Now that plan may get put on ice, due in part to an overly broad public records requests. The Seattle Times reported this morning that an anonymous man, known only by the email address policevideorequests@gmail.com, has made an official request for "details on every 911 dispatch on which officers are sent; all the written reports they produce; and details of each computer search generated by officers when they run a person’s name, or check a license plate or address."

The requestor also wants all video from patrol car cameras currently in use, and plans to request video from body cams once they are implemented. He has requested the information "every day, in spreadsheet form."

Police are examining whether the request can be fulfilled, and what kind of fees to charge, if any, said Seattle Police Department COO Mike Wagers.

“This would just shut down so many other aspects of our operation, responding to a request of this nature," said Wagers.

The newspaper got in touch with the anonymous requestor via email, who said he's a computer programmer in his 20s, living with his parents in Seattle. He said he wanted to expose the potential privacy problems of body cameras.

“I think what we need is some sort of balance between transparency and privacy,” the requestor said.

The story highlights the tension between a desire for transparency and the challenge of sifting through vast quantities of data and documents that can now be stored.

Washington state law doesn't provide any means for public agencies to reject requests as overbroad and the police video request isn't the only big one the city has dealt with. Seattle chief technology officer Michael Mattmiller said the city recently got a request for all email sent and received by city employees.

Mattmiller estimated that request would cost $110 million in salary money and would take 1,376 years for one full-time employee to fulfill.

The newspaper also quoted Seattle attorney Michele Earl-Hubbard, who specializes in public records requests. She said the city was trying to use the body camera request as a "poster child" to persuade legislators to change the law. Delivering information in installments, and charging copying fees for each release of data, can ensure that time isn't wasted on frivolous requests, she added.